Reopening After COVID-19: Expect the Unexpected When Planning Workforce Needs

Who will handle employee health screenings?

How will you cover unplanned staff absences?

What if employees are hesitant to return to work?

Right now, you may have lots of questions about reopening your company. Your employees most likely do too. While we’re all eager to return to “business as usual,” safely resuming operations will require healthy doses of diligence, flexibility, patience and creativity.

Our advice? Expect the unexpected.

As you build your company’s recovery plan, keep in mind how the following realities may impact your employees and workforce plan:

Daycare issues for parents with school age children:

• School is out for the reminder of the school year, impacting attendance and return to full-time work

Newly remote workers may want to stay remote:

• Safety and comfort of working from home may cause resistance to going back into work

Emotional and psychological impacts:

• Dealing with loss of family members, friends or colleagues
• Fear of contracting disease may lead employees to want to prolong social distancing
• Employee counseling may be needed for employees’ emotional and psychological health

Employee loss due to economic and other factors:

• Employees may quit, take other work, take over a family business
• Employees may need time off to take care of loved ones who are sick
• Death due to COVID-19
• Economic stimulus checks have put cash in employees’ pockets; they may quit because of short-term influx of money

Former employees may be unwilling to come back to work:

• Stimulus package has temporarily boosted individual unemployment benefits by $600/week
• Some employees may be making more on unemployment than they would if they were working

Employees may need to be tested and cleared before returning to work:

• Asymptomatic and unaware carriers may co-mingle with healthy employees and unintentionally spread the disease

Additional training may be needed:

• Leaders must learn how to hire and manage in this new world
• Employees may need re-acclimation, retraining and/or training for new job skills
• Everyone will need training on safety protocols

Need help building your workforce plan?

To help you reopen your business safely and plan for the unexpected, our experts have created a new whitepaper, “Turning On the Lights.” This comprehensive guide shares considerations for:

• Building your response team and reopening plan
• Addressing operational, safety, legal and mental well-being issues
• Creating a comprehensive, flexible workforce plan
• Emerging from this crisis stronger than ever

Download your free planning guide today.

When you’re ready, we are here for you.

If you need staffing support, a comprehensive workforce plan or simply some sound advice from a partner you can trust, please contact your local PrideStaff office.